The Mississippi River from Highway 417 near Antrim.
The Mississippi River is a tributary of the Ottawa River, approximately 160 km (100 mi) long, in southern Ontario in Canada. It rises east of the Kawartha Lakes and flows northeast through Dalhousie Lake and Mississippi Lake, past Carleton Place, through Mississippi Mills (formerly Almonte), then north to join the Ottawa River just east of Arnprior.
Tributaries include the:
Clyde River
Indian River
Fall River
The river originally powered textile mills. Today, it provides hydroelectric power.
The Purdon Conservation Area, a wetland in this river's watershed, contains Canada's largest native colony of showy lady slipperorchids, some 16,000 plants.
The origin of the river's name is something of a mystery; though is current name is certainly derived from that of its much larger American cousin, this is most certainly a corruption of a different native name, as the translation 'great water' would not apply to a relatively minor tributary of the Ottawa, definitely the largest river in the area. Instead, the origin may be "Mazinawzeebi", Algonquian for 'painted image river', though this is by no means proven.
The climate of Ontario varies greatly, as might be expected from its wide range in latitude and the relationships of the Great Lakes to the southern peninsula of the province.
Ontario is thus pre-eminently an agricultural province, though the growth of manufactures has increased the importance of the towns and cities, and many of the farmers are seeking new homes in the provinces of Manitoba, Alberta and Saskatchewan.
In the discussions from which sprang the federation of 1867, Ontario was the one province strongly in favour of the union, which was only rendered possible by the coalition of her rival leaders, J. Macdonald and George Brown.
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